The painting at the top is "Only the Deepest Red I" by Scottish painter Jack Vettriano (1951 - ), the other is by Californian R. Kenton Nelson (1954 - ). As I'll try to show in this post, the artists have a good deal of overlap, though it's far from complete.
Vettriano's website is here. Information on Nelson can be found here and
here, though it is less comprehensive.
Similarities? As you can see by their birth dates, they are near-contemporaries. Some of their paintings are filled with warm tones. There is a tendency to poster-like simplicity. They like to portray pretty women.
As for differences, Vettriano is self-taught whereas Nelson had formal art training. Nelson usually paints pleasant scenes while Vettriano often deals with demimonde sexually-related subjects, particularly in his later work. Finally, as best I can tell, Vettriano makes a lot more money from his art than does Nelson.
I've never seen neither a Vettriano nor a Nelson in person, so I dare not compare further. But you can look at the sample below and draw conclusions if you like.
Gallery
The images above are by Nelson. I don't have titles. Below are some by Vettriano.
4 comments:
The Vettriano that's particularly popular is his The Singing Butler; there's an illustration on the Wiki page. I can't analyse why it's so beguiling to so many, but I feel its attraction too.
dearieme -- Yes, it's both his signature painting and career launchpad. Even here in the States one sees prints of it for sale. It sold at auction a few years ago for north of 700,000 pounds as best I recall. Wonder what it would bring today.
I absolutely think many great painters create art which refers to other art. I blog about this very topic, and my most recent blog is about Jack Vettriano. Take a look, you might find it interesting and I am very curious as to whether you agree.
http://www.johnrshipp.com/the-duellists-1993-by-jack-vettriano-analysis-by-john-r-shipp/
John
Nelson is self taught painter having come from a background of 25+ years as an airbrush/illustrator and graphic designer.
http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/los-angeles/kenton-nelson-painter-southern-california.html
It's interesting to compare the dates on the paintings from the Vettrianos vs. the Nelsons, seems Nelson leads the way for Vettriano to follow. Just my opinion.
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